and tax increases. >> yeah. speaking of which, bob, at least over the weekend, it looks like the white house has moved their piece, and they are not going to move again until the republicans table something. how do you see these things going down? we've got three weeks to play with here before everybody really does leave for the holidays. are you optimistic? >> i'm optimistic by nature. and i have a feeling that when the economic future of the country is at stake or at least the near-term economic future of the country, people are going to rise above and do the right thing. and i think the republicans, frankly, are going to have to accept some tax increases. the wealthy are going to have to accept some tax increases, even if only temporary. but on the other side, there's got to be massive spending cuts and entitlement programs, because you can't have the -- a minor revenue increase without a decrease in spending. and then again, my favorite solution would be a temporary national sales tax, and a federal fuel tax